Sunday, September 26, 2010

NYC Subway To Offer MLB Playoffs Video Clips

This recent snipet from NPR speaks about the installation of video screens on the S line in Manhattan. (the line often used to test new ad formats) While ad creep and new forms of invasive public advertising are old news to me and many of our readers, there is an interesting moment around minute 2:36 where Erin Donovan gives us the monetary benefits of having our desires pulled in every direction as we try to navigate our way to work or play. With advertising, "we raise about 100 million dollars, we have an 11 billion dollar budget." This means revenue from outdoor advertising covers less than %1 of the MTA's operating budget. This means that ads on subway cars, on platforms, in stations, above the steps as you enter a station, on the sides of buses, inside buses, at bus shelters, and the other myriad forms taken by outdoor advertising throughout our public transportation network are not enough to even change the fare rate. Often it is argued that ad revenue is responsible for keeping our public infrastructure intact, something I would argue is problematic, but something Erin Donovan proves is not the case with the MTA.

In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is experimenting with new ways to raise revenue. The MTA has installed small, ten by ten-inch video screens in every car of the subway shuttle that runs between Times Square and Grand Central Terminal. The cable TV network, TBS, is paying to air its coverage of major league baseball playoff games. NPR's Margot Adler went for a ride and sent this report. (Listen Here)